


when you're feeling empty keep me in your memory

by JkWriter



Series: Unrelated Spider-Man One-Shots [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), F/M, Family Feels, Fluff, Peter Parker's Birthday, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), S'mores, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-21 00:02:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20236570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JkWriter/pseuds/JkWriter
Summary: after everything with thanos he forgets it's his birthday. he just assumed everyone else did too.





	when you're feeling empty keep me in your memory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kilala2tail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kilala2tail/gifts).

Ned and MJ were texting each other at lunch and Peter just knew it was about him because they only ever texted like this when they didn’t want him to hear what they were whispering about. They weren’t even sitting far apart as MJ had sat down right next to Ned before Peter had a chance to, leaving him her usual seat across from them. 

Ten minutes of silence and he couldn’t take it anymore. “So,” Peter said setting down his sandwich. Two sets of eyes finally looked up from their phones. Ned blinked as though he just realized Peter sat down across from them. Considering they had walked to the table together it didn’t settle right with him. “Are you guys ever going to say anything or am I supposed to have a one-sided conversation today? Which believe me, I can do, but I’ve been saving some material for the next time I go out as you-know-who and would rather not have to use it early.” 

“Oh, sorry Peter. MJ and I were just talking about...French.” Ned was a terrible liar and they all knew it. MJ elbowed him, something Peter didn’t miss but going by her smirk he doesn’t think he was supposed to. “Yeah, I was thinking about trying it out next year instead of third-year Spanish and she was just telling me about the class.” 

“Right. Well,” Something was definitely going on with them and Peter wasn’t about to sit around and be left out of whatever they were working through. He stuffed his lunch into his bag and dropped a twenty onto the table. “Happy wanted me to call him about getting upstate this weekend. I’ll see you guys at practice later, yeah?” 

“Yup, we’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss, just like we won’t miss-”

MJ slapped her hand over Ned’s mouth. “See you later, Parker.” 

He pretended like that wasn’t the weirdest experience of his life and walked out of Delmar’s. He didn’t call Happy because Sam called him first about an incident across the city. By the time it was dealt with he was dragging himself back to Queens for an early decathlon practice. 

“You’re late,” MJ said as he limped into the class. The clock above the board read “3:04”. He shrugged and fell into his seat next to Ned. “Alright, now that everyone’s here we’re getting started with some basic warmups. Everyone partner up.” 

Peter let his head fall forward onto the desk. “Dude, you okay?” Ned asked poking him with the sharp end of his pencil. Peter hissed and pulled away from the touch. “Sorry. But seriously. You okay? You look like death and MJ and I saw you like three hours ago.” 

“I’m fine. Something came up with the internship.” Ned’s eyes widened and he pulled out his phone, no doubt scouring the internet for images of the fight. “It’s not even been an hour, I don’t think you’re gonna find anything.” 

“Is that doubt I hear? Because it sounds like doubt. Oh look, here are some high-quality images of our resident webslinger looking like a badass.” 

He leaned over to look at what Ned pulled up. The images were pretty cool looking but the twisted ankle still stung and reminded Peter it’s not as glamorous as it appears. He still smiled when Ned excitedly showed everyone else the images and they showcased the same awe and respect towards Spider-Man. 

“First you show up later, and then you distract practice before we even finish the warmups.” MJ dropped into the chair next to Peter and “tsked”. 

“In my defense, Ned’s the one who looked it up. I just told him what happened.” 

“I saw Spider-Man and Black Widow working together on the news earlier,” she said before dropping her voice to something only he could hear. “You alright?” 

“Not terrible, this’ll all be healed up in a few hours.” 

MJ stared him up and down, then nodded. “Good, because we’re holding an extra practice this weekend.” 

“This weekend?” 

“Yup. You have a problem with it?” 

“Oh, well I was just supposed to go see Mr. Stark this weekend.” 

“And I should cancel practice because you want to go out of town?” 

“I mean, I don’t want you to cancel practice, but maybe you guys could have it without me?” 

“Hmph. Alright, go see your dad but be prepared by next practice. If you start falling behind I’ll give your spot to Eddie.” 

MJ pushed up from the desk and called practice back into order. That was...Weird. Today is weird, he thought. First, there was that thing at Delmar’s with Ned and MJ practically ignoring them in favor of texting one another and then this. Peter was still fairly certain there was something going on but he didn’t know what and making accusations without evidence never went well when MJ was involved. 

At least he finally got through to Happy and figured out what exactly was happening that weekend. Come Friday he was standing outside his building with a bag packed and a box of gifts for Morgan. He considered taking the suit but didn’t want to be needed and if something came up and they desperately needed him Mr. Stark had extra suits (“Kid, I’m retired. I need a hobby.” “Did you try gardening?” “Ha, you’re funny.”) he could use. 

“Hey, Happy!” Peter said cheerfully as he climbed into the back seat.

“Hey, kid. Sorry, I’m late, traffic was a bitch.” 

“Oh, that’s fine! I’ve just been sending Ned and MJ weird pictures of my face on Snapchat. I’m still trying to convince Mr. Stark to get one but he hasn’t gone for it yet.” 

“Have you tried asking him?” 

“No, but I have been indirectly hinting towards it.” 

“Try asking and I’m sure he’ll get one before the weekends over.” 

“But that’s not as fun as referencing all of the fun filters and geo-locations, like the one for the Avengers Tower.” 

“The tower that no longer belongs to the Avengers?”

“Yeah, but look!” Peter scrolled through his saved photos until he found one of him, Ned, and MJ outside the tower a few weeks earlier. The three of them were wearing different Avengers masks they had gotten at Walmart and were all frowning at the empty tower. In the bottom right corner was the Avengers symbol as well as their coordinates. “The geo-filter is still there. Probably because it’s such an iconic location. Also, Mr. Stark was talking to Pepper about buying back the building since the Compound is kind of gone.” 

“Would be a good move on their part. Let me know if you hear anything else, maybe I won’t have to be driving out this far anymore.” 

“Ah, sorry. But thanks for taking me.” 

“Kid, I don’t mind. Tony pays me to drive you.” 

“Awe, you mean you don’t do it because you love me?” 

Happy narrowed his eyes at Peter and started raising the partition. He was smiling and Peter was laughing. It didn’t even get halfway up before he was lowering it back down. 

The sky was going dark by the time they pulled up to the lake house. Morgan was sitting on the porch with the Lego set Peter had given her last time he visited, Pepper beside her with a book. Both items were abandoned when they saw the car. Morgan jumped up and Pepper had to hold on to keep her from running to them. 

“Hey, guys!” Peter called as he opened up the door. Pepper finally let Morgan go, the little girl sprinting over and launching herself at Peter. “Oof.” 

“Hi, Peter! You’re late. Daddy said it was cause Happy had to get your friends first but that’s not fair cause you should have come first. But MJ is really pretty and Ned helped me with my Lego! Oh, happy birthday!” 

“My what?” 

“Morgan,” Pepper chided, pulling her daughter off of Peter. “It’s not a surprise if you tell him before he even gets inside.” 

“Oh, sorry. But Peter’s here! Can we go play?” 

“Tomorrow, tonight’s about Peter.” Pepper turned her attention back to Peter who was still standing, halfway inside the car, in shock. “Sorry about the ruined surprise. Tony wanted to do something special for your birthday.” 

“My birthday?”

Pepper frowned. “Peter, honey, it’s your birthday.” 

Huh. With everything that’s happened over the last few months, Thanos and then Mr. Stark in the hospital, Peter hadn’t even thought about his birthday. 

“Oh, well, I can pretend to be surprised?” 

“I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Come on in, Happy can grab your bag.” 

Peter picked up the box of gifts, which now felt weird knowing it was his birthday and followed Pepper into the house. She called out Morgan’s slip-up in the kitchen. Ned and MJ followed a pouting Tony into the room.

“Morguna! I worked really hard on this surprise, had the kids on it and everything, and then you went out and told him.” 

“Sorry, daddy. But look, Peter brought me presents!” 

“I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to get presents on your birthday, but go off I guess,” MJ said, taking the box from Peter so Ned could push their own into his hands. “Happy birthday, loser. Don’t build it all at once.” 

“Oh my god, is this the Avengers Helicarrier Lego set? How did you get this? I thought it was discontinued years ago? Where did you get this?”

“We uh, had a little help acquiring it. It’s not the original, the mini-figures are a bit different, but we figured you wouldn’t mind.” 

Peter looked at the small Lego people on the box. There was Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Black Widow, and… 

“Oh my god, I have a Lego figure?!?!?!?”

“Early release of it,” Tony said. “Perks of being a billionaire superhero, you get things months before they’re set to be released in stores.” 

“This is the best day of my life.” 

That might have been an exaggeration, but when Happy went out again and came back with May it didn’t feel like it. The eight of them made it outside where Tony had a fire going when the moon was high and the sky and Morgan should have been in bed long ago. Peter was confused, not really sure what was going on, and it looked like neither his friends knew either.

“Uh, Mr. Stark? What are we doing?”

“What, you’ve never seen a cult sacrifice before?” Pepper whacked him in the arm. “Too much? Definitely too much. This, small children, is a fire.”

“Yeah, we can see that. I believe Peter asked “why”.”

“Great question, Jones. After the snap Pepper and I wanted to do something for Peter’s birthday so we researched. Did you know August 10th is National S’mores Day? This has become an unofficial tradition that Peter here can finally partake in.” 

Peter stopped listening sometime after Tony admitting he and Pepper never forgot him. Sure, he heard the story, knew that he was supposedly the reason Tony invented time travel, but seeing the Stark family smiling at him because they cared enough to do something when he wasn’t even there to celebrate was something else. 

He didn’t realize he was crying until Morgan started tugging on his sleeve. “Petey, you ‘k?” 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” Wiping away the tears was pointless because more took their place, but he did anyway. “Just...Surprised.” 

“What, you didn’t think we’d forget your birthday, did you?” 

“I…” 

“We could never forget, kid.”

And sitting around the fire, telling stories and laughing with his family, Peter believed him.

**Author's Note:**

> this is late everything is late heckin rip  
anyways my friend shares a birthday with mcu peter parker and this is for her because we wanted smores but also its not even what we wanted it to be but then i got to the end and wanted it to end there because i liked that ending but imma get my fic of peter and friends eating s'mores one day gosh darnit


End file.
